10 Problems With Game Of Thrones Nobody Wants To Admit
2. "Historical Accuracy" Is No Excuse
Westeros around 300 AC is nowhere near as diverse as 21st century America, of course George RR Martin wrote in response to an African-American fan who pointed out the troubling lack of diversity in Game Of Thrones. Westeros is the fantasy analogue of the British Isles in its world, so it is a long long way from the Asia analogue. There werent a lot of Asians in Yorkish England either. Which is obviously a lot of crap. It's an excuse that gets trotted out to explain the sexism and huge amounts of rape throughout the series, with the thinking being that in the olden days women didn't have it so great, so they shouldn't hear either right? And Game Of Thrones is mostly a fantasy retelling of the War Of The Roses, so... Except, well, it doesn't have to be like that. Martin writes like the make-up of the population of Westeros is beyond his control, like he's being historically accurate. There were also no dragons or ice zombies in Yorkish Enlgand. If you can conceive of that, surely it's not such a stretch to be crazy sexist and racist too.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
